The present invention relates to animal calls and, in particular, to a deer or other game call having a mechanism for manipulating a reed restraint along the length of the reed and an adjacent tone board to vary the pitch of a wide-billed reed secured to the tone board in a support housing.
Numerous types of animal calls have been developed for mimicking different species of birds and animals to attract the bird or animal. Some common birdcalls are designed to attract turkeys, ducks, geese, and crows. Some calls are constructed to “shock” and elicit a response and locate a different species. For example, some response or “shock” calls mimic owls, peacocks, and hawks and which induce tom turkeys or crows to respond. Some calls are constructed to mimic injured prey and attract a predator, for example, rabbit calls to attract coyotes and fox. Many other calls are designed to mimic animals such as squirrel, deer and elk.
Deer, elk, duck and turkey calls are particularly popular with recreational sportsmen. Depending upon the game animal and purpose of the call, the call's physical construction can take a variety of forms and use a wide variety of resonating members. Some whistle-type calls provide air chambers and associated porting. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,066,443 and 2,697,298 show calls with adjustable air porting.
Some striker calls, such as used to hunt turkeys, provide a wand or other member that is manipulated on a compatible resonating member.
Duck calls commonly use reeds that are rigidly mounted in a surrounding housing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,479 discloses a duck call with an o-ring reed retainer. Deer calls are also known that provide multiple grooves and relative to which and upon disassembly an O'ring can be manually adjusted to provide different sounds. The necessary disassembly and re-assembly of these calls can be burdensome and frequently not possible, especially when deer are nearby.
Calls with adjustable reeds are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,604,731; 2,555,813; and 2,551, 367. Animal calls that use slide-tuning mechanisms are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,030,241; 2,697,298; 2,544,370; 2,583,400; 1,484,148; and 825,610. Calls with adjustable clip and spring tuning assemblies are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,643,039 and 6,083,075. U.S. Pat. Nos. 813,853 and 333,094, in turn, show threaded, rotary tuning assemblies.
A deer call is shown at U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,451 having a slide-mounted tuning pin that can be manipulated with a finger to-and-fro along a reed. A resonance or sound tube is also shown that can be mounted to the end of the housing to vary the pitch or timber and direct the emitted sound.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved animal call particularly directed to mimic deer sounds. The assembly provides a housing that surrounds a concentric tone board and relative to which a wide billed reed is mounted to resonate. An O'ring is fitted around the reed and tone board and a finger-actuated slide assembly is contained to the housing that permits a to-and-fro manipulation of the o'ring to vary the tone of the elicited sounds without having to disassemble and re-assemble the call.